English - Rice Lake Weighing Systems

On location
On location
In 1955, the world of blue jeans changed forever. When James
Dean donned his iconic denim threads in Rebel without a Cause, pop culture
instantly adopted the look. No longer were they referred to as “waist overalls” most
commonly worn by painters, mechanics, and old cowboys. Blue jeans became cool,
every teenager wanted a pair, and the demand hasn’t let up in the over half-century
since. Today, the $700 billion global blue jeans market is so prevalent in America that
12 pairs are sold every second in the U.S., and the average American owns seven pairs.
Few things are more identifiable with American culture as blue jeans.
The blue jean has greatly evolved since its popularity skyrocketed. A solid-blue straightleg
soon wasn’t stylish enough. Stone-washed, distressed, and every shade of blue now
fill walls of clothing stores, but few know how these styles are achieved.
How Micro-Organisms Shape
the Blue Jean Industry
Initially, special pumice stones were
used to customize jean appearance;
however, they had major
drawbacks. Not only did
they weaken the jeans,
they also produced inconsistent
results and
were environmentally
unsafe. Special
machines had to be
used to wash the jeans
with the stones. In the
late 1980s, the industry
developed what is now
used today: tiny proteins
known as enzymes to “biostone”
denim. These environmentally
friendly chemicals are
naturally created by living organisms, which is
more economical. They also produce repeatable
results and maintain the jeans’ structural integrity.
It’s as if James Dean combined forces with
Albert Einstein for the benefit of fashion!
IOGEN Corporation is a leader in enzyme
research and implementation. They manipulate
micro-organisms to produce specific enzymes
that facilitate production of a wide variety of
products, including ethanol, papers and textiles,
and, of course, blue jeans—so, if one drives to a
clothing store using ethanol-enhanced gasoline
and writes a check for blue jeans, IOGEN can be
thanked for making the entire process possible.
But IOGEN’s laboratories in Ottawa, Canada,
had a problem. Fiber-digesting enzymes
floating around in fermentation chambers are
difficult to measure. Quantities are important
so enzyme levels can be monitored as they are
researched. At first, they used a marker to label
the chambers with lines indicating fluid levels,
but more precise measurements were desperately
needed.
Continued on page 17
14 RICE LAKE MAGAZINE | www.ricelake.com
www.ricelake.com | RICE LAKE MAGAZINE 15